1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data processing apparatus, an operation accepting method, and a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium encoded with a browsing program. More particularly, the present invention relates to a data processing apparatus provided with a multi-touch-capable touch panel, an operation accepting method performed by the data processing apparatus, and a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium encoded with a browsing program for causing a computer to perform the operation accepting method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some recent data processing apparatuses, typified by multi-function peripherals (MFPs), are provided with a multi-touch-capable touch panel as a user interface. The multi-touch-capable touch panel can detect a plurality of positions simultaneously designated by a user. On the other hand, some MFPs allow application programs to be installed therein. A user can customize an MFP by installing an application program according to the type of usage. Of these application programs, while some programs can accept a multi-touch operation, others cannot accept the multi-touch operation and can accept a single-touch operation. Therefore, in the case where a plurality of application programs are executed at the same time, it is necessary to switch between the mode of accepting user operations as multi-touch operations and the mode of accepting user operations as single-touch operations, for each of the application programs.
For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-211704 describes a method for handling mouse events in a multi-touch device. The method includes the steps of: displaying one or more views; executing one or more software elements, each associated with a particular view; associating a multi-touch flag or an exclusive touch flag with each view; receiving one or more touches on the one or more views; and, on the basis of the value(s) of the multi-touch or exclusive touch flag(s), selectively sending one or more mouse events, each describing the corresponding received touch, to the one or more software elements associated with the one or more views on which the one or more touches were received.
Some application programs, however, output an image (view) which includes an area accepting multi-touch operations and an area accepting single-touch operations. In the conventional method, the mode of accepting user operations as multi-touch operations and the mode of accepting them as single-touch operations are switched depending upon a view. Therefore, the conventional method cannot address the case where a single view (image) includes the area accepting multi-touch operations and the area accepting single-touch operations.